Part 14

"Did it work?"

Harper froze on hearing a voice by the door, concentrating now, knowing it was Gerentex who had spoken. The hand still covered his mouth, as he continued to struggle in vain, his mind was drifting but he was determined to not let his confused mind distract him.

"Seamus, you will be quiet," Doctor Richter hissed, easily containing Harper as he pressed him down against the cot. "I know who you are, and I know exactly what you did, I've known all along," he stated quickly. "I also know who has the bounty on your head, and now we need to be elsewhere."

"Hurry up, I don't want to still be on this thing when she wakes," Gerentex stressed. "I couldn't make him talk before, but I will," he stated firmly.

Harper wanted to speak but with the hand still firmly placed across his mouth, he was only able to make a few panicked noises, his head still spinning and he felt himself burning up, he really didn't feel too good.

"Damn," Richter then seemed to then notice Harper's state. "He's burning up."

"What?" Gerentex moved closer.

"He's shaking, he has a fever, I think," Richter then observed, his medical instincts returning as he removed his hand from the human's mouth, seeming to know that something was wrong when Harper did not respond to being released, not even attempting to call for help.

Feeling as though he was on fire, Harper groaned as his head rolled to the side, he desperately wanted to do something now that Richter had removed some of his hold on him but he was unable to. His body no longer responded, he felt weak and soon fear crept in, as Harper fought to remain awake but at the same time he was unable to slip into unconsciousness.

"What's wrong with him?" Gerentex impatiently asked.

"It's seemed similar to shock, at a guess, but I see no source, and the reaction is severe," Richter observed with concern, checking Harper's slow responses now. "It could almost be a delayed reaction, maybe to your little teeth stunt earlier, or maybe some of his sight has returned and he's reacting to it, or there might be something else I haven't accounted for."

"Maybe a bit of everything," Gerentex suggested with an uncaring shrug. "This runt is well known for being weak," he stated. "We both read the file they had on him, tracing his movements after leaving Yussuf blinded and crippled, the Patriarch caught him, did something to his head, and he was attacked by Magog, barely survived the battle that saw the Andromeda explode."

"I almost feel sorry for him," Richter frowned.

"Remember our objective, doctor," Gerentex warned.

"I remember," Richter found an injector and pressed it to Harper's neck. "This should settle him down."

"Secure him, and let's get this ship moving," Gerentex ordered. "We're already four men down, oh, remind me to order their deaths when we're done," he said with venom. "I know one thing, and that is we can't afford to let this one loose, now we have him."

"He's blind, partially crippled and now sick with fever," Richter was about to protest.

"Secure him!" Gerentex blasted, before leaving the room.

Richter silently set to work in securing the human, who had quickly responded to the drug, and was now sleeping soundly whilst the fever slowed down. Richter was concerned, Harper's body had gone into some kind of delayed shock and they were now playing a risky game with the human's health, he considered, and all his medical instincts were screaming at him to abort their plans. On his own initiative, Richter set to work on running some tests, determined not to let the plan blind his own professionalism.


The coldness hit her first, then the pain in her head as she wearily pushed herself up from the deck. The silence then made her more aware, the Maru engines were offline, so she was either docked or stranded. Beka got to her feet, and using the bulkheads for support, she staggered initially along the walkways to the command section and saw the blanket of stars around her, and not much else.

The power was completely drained she realised, as she sat herself in the pilot seat, ignoring the thumping headache she had.

"Harper?" Beka spoke his name at first, before scrambling to her feet. "Harper!" she yelled, as she broke into a run, checking every part of the Maru and as her search continued through the cold and empty ship, her fears were realised.

In the engine room, usually so full of life, and noise, Beka sank to her knees and the tears fell once more; she knew Harper wouldn't be there this time to wipe them away.

"I'm going to kill that rat," Beka seethed with anger, through the tears, her hands tightly fisted now, as her mind filled with concern for Harper.

A chill suddenly made her shiver, she needed to return power to the ship or she'd be dead before she had a chance to rescue Harper. Beka got to her feet, and with a new determination she reached a console, but found even the emergency power had been drained; her ship was dead in space. Trying not to panic, Beka hurried towards the service area, she needed to think clearly and she needed to eat but on arriving she discovered that it wasn't only the power reserves that had been emptied, there wasn't a scrap of food or drink on board.

"Crap," Beka could only remark, as she turned back to the command area. With fear creeping into her actions she tried all the tricks she knew to force life into the consoles, into the communication systems, but there was nothing and Beka began to panic.

"She's alive, just."

"Take her to med deck, inform Trance."

"I'm already here, Dylan."

Beka opened her eyes in panic and took a sharp intake of breath, looking straight into the eyes of a dead man. Backing away quickly with confusion, Beka tried to breath but the vision was strong, and had her arms now, holding her still.

"Beka, you are weak from hunger and cold," Rhade spoke with care. "You're going to be ok, now."

"Rha," Beka managed before words failed her, Rhade's hold was the first bit of warmth she had felt for what seemed an age.

"It's me, Beka," Rhade smiled, and she noticed his longer hair, a more relaxed stance about him. "I never thought I'd see you again, Beka, I thought you were dead."

"I was about to say the same thing," Beka finally managed a sentence, still breathing heavily, her eyes remained wide.

"It's a long story, but we're back now, we would have found you sooner but we were not sure there was anything to find," Rhade frowned for a moment. "By chance we picked up a trace of the Maru, and then Trance helped us to find you."

"Harper," Beka then spoke in panic.

"He's not with us," Rhade was quick to answer. "We believe that he was on the Arkology with Rommie, when it was destroyed, he never made it to the place where we were taken."

"He was on the Arkology," Beka agreed. "But I saved him."

"Where is he now?"

"He disappeared," Beka answered, looking distressed again.

"Disappeared?" Rhade looked doubtful. "Come on, we need to get you warmed up and fed, you've looked better."

With her thoughts consumed by Harper's disappearance, Beka numbly walked with Rhade onto the familiar decks of the Andromeda, and her confusion and shock resurfaced. "This isn't possible, I saw this, everyone destroyed," Beka fretted now, as she struggled in his hold, unable to believe what she was seeing and fearing some sort of trap.

"Trance, I think I'm going to need a sedative for Beka," Rhade spoke up, trying to contain the blonde captain.

"This isn't real, who are you, stop messing with me!" Beka now raged, as she allowed her doubts to turn to suspicion. "You have Harper; you've got him haven't you? This is some test, or you've killed him already and now it's my turn!"

"Trance, right now!" Rhade yelled, as he continued to stop Beka from hurting herself and him in the process.

TBC